XLIII. CHAP. deck, and asked by Captain Dacres if he knew the character of the approaching ship. He answered she was a 1812. frigate. As she drew nearer, and merely manœuvred, and made no reply with her guns, Dacres, somewhat puzzled, inquired again, "What does she mean? Do you think she is going to strike without firing a gun?" "I guess not, sir," replied the American; "she will get the position she wants, and you will then learn her intentions; with your permission, sir, I will step below." 23. The United States, Captain Decatur, when cruising off the Azores, gave chase to a British frigate, which proved to be the Macedonian. A running fight comOct. menced, which terminated by the Macedonian striking her colors, after losing one hundred out of her three hundred men, while the United States lost only five men and seven wounded. The other ships made several prizes on their cruise. The Argus escaped by superior seamanship, after being chased three days by six vessels, and took and manned a prize during the chase. The Wasp, Captain Jones, met the British brig Frolic, acting as a convoy for six merchantmen; to protect them she shortened sail and offered battle. The Wasp watched her opportunity, raked her antagonist, and then immediately boarded. The boarders found the deck of the Frolic covered with the slain, and only one man unhurt, who was calmly standing at the wheel, and one or two wounded officers, who threw down their swords. Not twenty of the crew were unhurt. The Wasp had only five killed and as many wounded. But before she could make sail, the Poictiers seventy-four came up, and took both vessels. 13. Hull resigned the command of the Constitution, and Bainbridge was appointed in his place. Off the coast of Brazil the Constitution gave chase to a British frigate, the Java. The fight began at the distance of a mile, and was continued with great spirit, each manoeuvring to get the advantage. At length they approached so closely as EFFECTS PRODUCED BY THE NAVAL VICTORIES. XLIII. 597 to fight yard-arm and yard-arm. The Java's masts CHAP. were shot away, and her fire silenced. The Constitution drew off to repair her rigging, and then approached to 1813. renew the conflict, which the Java prevented by striking her flag. Nearly half of her men, numbering four hundred, were killed or wounded, while the Constitution had only nine killed and twenty-five wounded; among the Jan. latter was her commander. There being no friendly port in that part of the world to which he could take his prize, Bainbridge ordered her to be set on fire and blown up. It is difficult to conceive the exultation with which these victories were hailed in the United States. The very great disparity in the losses sustained by the respective combatants had excited surprise in both nations. The English loss of men in killed and wounded, compared with that of the Americans, was as eight to one. There could be no doubt but the ships of the latter had been better managed and better fought. The English people, we learn from the newspapers of the day, were deeply mortified at the loss of their frigates. One of the papers asked, "Shall England, the mistress of the seas and dictator of the maritime law of nations, be driven from her proud eminence by a piece of striped bunting flying at the mastheads of a few fir-built frigates, manned by a handful of bastards and outlaws?" Some were thus abusive, but others were more respectful, and even found consolation in the fact that the Americans were the descendants of Englishmen. Says the London Times: "We witnessed the gloom which that event (the capture of the Guerrière) cast over high and honorable minds; it is not merely that an English frigate has been taken after a brave resistance, but it has been by a new enemy." And apprehensions were expressed that their maritime superiority was about to be challenged, if not taken away, by this new rival, which had so suddenly sprung into existence. "The mourning for this last most affecting event, (the capture 1. XLIII. CHAP of the Java,) can never be laid aside till the honor of the British flag shall be redeemed, by establishing 1813. the same triumphant superiority over the Americans that we have heretofore had over all the nations that traverse the seas. Five hundred British vessels and three frigates have been captured in seven months by the Americans. Can the English people hear this unmoved? Down to this moment not an American frigate has struck her flag. They insult and laugh at us; they leave their ports when they please; and return when it suits their convenience; they traverse the Atlantic; they beset the West India Islands; they advance to the very chops or the Channel; they parade along the coast of South America; nothing chases, nothing intercepts, nothing engages them, but yields to them a triumph." To account for these unexampled victories, some said the American frigates were Seventy-fours in disguise; others that their guns were heavier than those of their opponents. The latter supposition may have been true to some extent. But national self-complacency found more consolation in the conjecture, that the spirit of the American navy ought to be imputed to the few runaway British sailors enlisted in it! The American privateers maintained the honor of the nation as much as the regular navy. Much more would have been accomplished, but the majority of the merchants were loth to send privateers to prey upon the property of their commercial friends and correspondents. As it was, more than three hundred prizes were taken, three thousand prisoners, and a vast amount of merchandise. Changes were made in the President's cabinet. General John Armstrong-the author of the famous Anonymous Address, at the close of the Revolution-was appointed Secretary of War in place of William Eustis, of Massachusetts, resigned. James Monroe still remained THE ARMIES-THE DISASTER AT THE RAISIN. 599 XLIII. at the head of the State Department, and Albert Galla- CHAP tin at that of the Treasury, an office which he held under Jefferson. The surrender of Hull aroused the warlike spirit of the West, and volunteers presented themselves in great numbers. The Americans were divided into three armies. That of the west, at the head of Lake Erie, under General Harrison; that of the centre, between Lakes Erie and Ontario, under General Dearborn, and that of the north in the vicinity of Lake Champlain, under General Wade Hampton. A similar arrangement was made by the British. Sir George Prevost was in chief command of the forces in Canada, General Proctor commanded the troops stationed near Detroit, and General Sheafe those in the neighborhood of Montreal and the Sorel river. 1813. To recover what Hull had lost, Harrison moved toward Detroit and Malden; meantime General Winchester advanced with eight hundred volunteers, chiefly young men from Kentucky. That State swarmed with soldiers, drawn from every rank in society. As he drew near the Maumee Rapids, Winchester learned that a body of British and Indians was in possession of Frenchtown, on the river Raisin. He sent a detachment, which routed the enemy, and maintained its position until he himself came up. When General Proctor learned of the approach of Winchester, he hastened across the lake on the ice from Malden, with fifteen hundred British and Indians, to cut him off, before Harrison could give aid. The attack was Jan made on the American camp before daylight. In the midst of the confusion Winchester was taken prisoner. Proctor promised him security for the safety of his men, and thus induced him to surrender them as prisoners. Fearing the approach of Harrison, Proctor retreated as rapidly as possible to Malden, and in violation of his pledges, he left the wounded Americans. The Indians turned back and murdered great numbers 22. XLIII. CHAP. of them, and carried the remainder to Detroit; for some of these they demanded enormous ransoms, and others 1813. they reserved for tortures. The conduct of Proctor, in thus breaking his word, and violating the principles of common humanity, excited against the enemy the bitterest feelings of revenge. "Remember the Raisin!" became the war-cry of the Kentuckians. Harrison advanced to the rapids, and there established a post, which in honor of the Governor of Ohio, he named Fort Meigs. There he was besieged, in the course of a few months, by a large force of British and their Indian allies. Learning that General Green Clay, of Kentucky, was descending the Maumee with twelve hundred men in boats, Harrison sent orders for half the men to land and seize the enemy's batteries on the north side of the river, spike their guns, and then come to the Fort, whence a sortie was to be made against the main batteries on the south side. The first order was fulfilled, and the British routed; but instead of hastening to the Fort, the Kentuckians became unmanageable, and pursued a few Indians, who led them into an ambuscade prepared by the cunning Tecumseh. They were in turn routed by the Indians and a detachment of British soldiers, and of the Kentuckians only about one hundred and fifty escaped. Nevertheless Proctor was alarmed; the force of the Americans was unknown, and as the Indians began to desert, May. he commenced a hurried retreat across the lake to Malden. Two months after, Proctor agair appeared before Fort Meigs, now under the command of Clay. Not able to take it, and having learned that Fort Stephenson, on the Sandusky, had a small garrison, Proctor left Tecumseh with his Indians to besiege Fort Meigs, while he himself went against Fort Stephenson. This fort had a garrison of only one hundred and sixty young men, commanded by Major George Croghan, a youth in his twenty-second year. When summoned to surrender, he replied that he |